Hello all, it has been more than 2 years since I posted this, where does the time go?? I just wanted to follow up on this thread. I ended up putting Hunter Douglas ultraglide top down/bottom up blackout shades in the kitchen. We get such strong blinding sun that we really needed the blackout shades in that area. I have been happy with the decision. Although the blinds don't provide any visual interest, I am happy with the clean look when they are all the way up. I've realized that the visual interest is really the view. Hunter Douglas also has great customer service. We've had a few issues that were addressed in a very timely manner. As far as the great room, we lived without anything on the windows for all this time. I am glad I waited to see what would work best. The only reason why I am putting something on the windows now is because we want to protect our furniture from the strong morning sun. We will close the blinds at night and open them during the day after the morning sun. I will be ordering Hunter Douglas ultraglide top down/bottom up semi-opaque shades. I was told that the semi-opaque will block out 95% of the UV rays that cause sun damage to furniture. I am interested to see how these shades will affect our heating and cooling bills. There is so much glass in the great room that it gets so hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Best wishes to all!

We had Florida panhandle Gulf penthouse with south and west views - lots of windows on both floors. Nothing was better than roll-up mylar shades at the time - years ago. Is it still the way to go? Up to you. We only rolled ours down when the sun was setting and it was almost blinding, then raised when the was below the horizon. Our cars have roll-up see through shades... but I can't find % spec on MB website. You can see through them, but they are hardly view worth. As long as you don't have small children or dogs that will tear the mylar, it's one way to go. Our home has large windows and we used a professional window sun protection for the sun/glare. There are various degrees of darkness and exterior looks (we did not want a mirrored exterior look, or one with a lot of exterior reflection). Helps a lot. I'm not home, so can't put my finger on the brand/specs. It does make the room darker, earlier, and the windows do look different at night, but we live in the woods (no exterior lights) so it's not even noticed by us now.

SunnyDJ - that is what bothers me the most. I know that even when made here in the US, the markup is so high. My first pair of rimless were the least expensive I could get but with the progressives and the other features I needed, not just wanted, they cost me alot more than I thought they were worth. Even hough I loved them cause they were light weight and no distracting plastic frame in the way, they were hard to keep in adjustment. I was constantly, well frequently, having to go have them adjusted cause one of my kindergarten kids would lift his/her head when I was helping them and knock them out of whack. The adjustments didn't cost me but oddly enough, I haven't had as much problems with the last few pairs I have ordered online and now I have a grandson who just turned 3 that I take care of and I've made it through the grabbing glasses stage and playing around with him. I have taken them into where I got my eyes examed and had them checked to make sure the script is correct. So far no problems. I have my eyes checked yearly and even though the chance isn't usually big - I can now afford to get new glasses. If I had to do that with expensive ones, I would have to wait or find another style of frame. They don't like to just replace the lenses with rimless or at least that is what I have been told. You do what you have to do - if I felt that my glasses weren't correct, I wouldn't order from them again. I think its worth a try - maybe for a back up pair at first like the OP was wanting sunglasses.

@Ashley P Here is an interesting article about range hoods that might help you understand how helpful they can be for homeowners. I am beyond grateful to have mine. I had to change my kitchen around a bit. Its too bad you couldn't switch your island range with your sink. Stove Hoods To Keep Pollution Out Of The Kitchen Hot summer days often mean air pollution warnings in big cities. But the air inside your kitchen can sometimes be just as harmful. Cooking fumes from your stove are supposed to be captured by a hood over the range — but even some expensive models aren't that effective. Jennifer Logue spends a lot of time thinking about what happens when she cooks. She's a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, where she studies indoor air pollution. "You spend 70 percent of your time in your home," says Logue. "And what you do in your home has a huge impact on what you're exposed to." Cooking on a gas stove releases some of the same pollutants that you find outdoors in smog. Logue looked at homes in Southern California that cook at least once a week, and found more than half of them were above the outdoor health limit for a pollutant called nitrogen dioxide. "If you exceeded the standards outdoors, it would be a really big deal," she says. "But if you exceed them in your house, nobody's paying attention." Homes with electric stoves aren't in the clear because cooking the food itself creates air pollution. Sauteing fats produces a lung irritant called acrolein. And cooking puts off fine particle pollution. Just like smog outdoors, these emissions increase your chances of developing long-term respiratory and heart problems. If all this sounds a little scary, Logue says there's a simple solution: a good range hood that vents outside. But, she says, "Not all hoods work the same and currently, unfortunately, there's no way for people to really know how effective their range hood is." Inside the test kitchen at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab, Woody Delp, a building systems engineer, and his team are trying to figure out exactly that. Some of the hoods he's tested are only 15 percent effective because their fans aren't as powerful. Delp says when you're buying a hood, that's labeled as air flow. But the shape of the hood also makes a big difference, like how far it reaches over the stove. Delp and his team are developing a standardized test to measure hood effectiveness. It's being reviewed by an international testing board, which would allow manufacturers to voluntarily label their hoods. "Unfortunately there's not really a state or federal agency that has comprehensive authority over indoor air pollution," says Peggy Jenkins, who manages the indoor air quality program at the California Air Resources Board. She says there are strict ventilation rules for other gas appliances in homes, like furnaces and water heaters. Stoves and range hoods have been largely overlooked. "In a sense it's low-hanging fruit, but it's not really simple," she says. Jenkins says there's growing interest in changing California's building codes around range hoods — but it would take a number of state agencies to do it. Meanwhile, for we home cooks, Logue has a few tips. She says use the highest fan setting on the range hood and put pots and pans on the back burners. That's where hoods capture the most pollutants. Simple changes, but effective ones, Logue says. The hard part is remembering them. Cooking Tips -- Always turn your fan on -- Cook on the back burners -- Use highest fan setting -- Clean grease traps periodically -- If you don't have a hood, open windows Tips For Buying A New Range Hood -- Look for one that covers the entire stovetop -- It should move 200 cubic feet of air per minute, certified by the Home Ventilating Institute -- Choose a noise rating of 3 sones or less for a quieter fan -- Choose a hood shape with a hollow space underneath for collecting fumes Source: Lawrence Berkeley Lab one idea